Back in the 70s and 80s, Chinatown’s Loong Foong Bakery, on Keefer Street, was a Vancouver treasure known to only some. Celebrated for providing a wide range of Chinese delicacies, in a friendly and welcoming environment, the Loong Foong was a destination bakery, a once-a-week must-stop-by-and-indulge experience.
Alas, the Loong Foong Bakery is no more, having closed its door three years back. Until recently, no comparable Chinese bakery had emerged to take its place. Well, now, in the same location as the old Loong Foong, at 257 Keefer Street, Maxim’s Bakery has opened its doors, and what an incredibly inexpensive, addictive treat this new bakery has turned out to be.
Even though the fare at Maxim’s doesn’t quite fit into my South Beach low carb food regimen, a visit to the bakery has become a twice-a-week part of my regular schedule of activities, during which time I set about to purchase one, or more, of the following items: humungous, hot and delicious BBQ Pork Buns, for 60¢ (Maxim’s also serves equally scrumptious stuffed curry beef – as well as chicken and ham – buns, for the same price); steamed buns stuffed with pork and rice, 2 for $1.10; stuffed chicken pies for 95¢; gigantic spring rolls for 80¢; red bean cakes for 60¢; strawberry, peach or coffee cake wedges for $1; and an almond cookie to-die-for, for only 80¢.
Check out Maxim’s. You won’t be sorry you did. And enjoy!
Maxim’s other Lower Mainland locations: Metrotown, 4600 Kingsway; Vancouver East, 5613 Victoria Drive; Richmond Centre, 6060 Minoru Boulevard; Coquitlam’s Henderson Place, 1163 Pinetree Way.

Raymond Tomlin

Raymond Tomlin is a veteran journalist and educator who has written frequently on the political realm — municipal, provincial and federal — as well as on cinema, mainstream popular culture, the arts, and technology.

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